


Hanahaki

by Zylo



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, also they're unnamed, the dark sides are friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 22:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17212139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zylo/pseuds/Zylo
Summary: Things were going alright for Deceit. For a while at least.





	Hanahaki

**Author's Note:**

> The original idea was inspired by Missing by Evanescence but otherwise has nothing to do with the story.

_"What's his problem?"_

  
_"Who knows? Probably got to an argument with one of the others."_

  
_"Should probably let him blow off some steam then."_

  
Deceit let out a warning growl, back turned towards two of his fellow dark sides. It wasn't a particularly vicious-sounding one but it was enough to get the two to back off. Once he was sure that he was alone in the hall, he unlocked the door to his room, stepping inside to the welcoming warmth. He could worry about feeling guilty for scaring them off later.

  
After making sure the door was locked once more, the snake-like side snapped his fingers. In place of his usual attire was a pair of loose-fitting pajama pants and an over-sized t-shirt. Glancing down at his gloves, he let out a displeased noise at the sight of red stains on them.

  
"Damn blood," he muttered as he quickly ripped the gloves off. "Damn flo-" His ranting was cut off by a bout of coughing. Thinking fast, he covered his mouth with the already ruined gloves as a burning sensation filled his chest. Once it subsided, he moved the gloves away and looked down.

  
Nestled in them were blood-covered flower petals, five different types in total.

  
' _Red, Blue, Indigo, Purple..._ ' The light sides.

  
' _...and a special rainbow petal._ ' Thomas himself. Deceit's host.

  
Collapsing on his bed in an exhausted heap, Deceit stared up at the ceiling, barely illuminated by his table lamp. ' _Why me?! Why this?!_ ' He screamed to himself.

* * *

 

  
Things had been going well enough. Everyone had been working together to get a new series off the ground for Thomas's venture into YouTube. " _Sanders Sides_ " as the human had called it; a fictionalized, and rather dramatized if he were being honest, version of their lives with the intent to entertain and to, as Logan hoped, teach the audience some important lessons.

  
Now though, things couldn't be going worse for Deceit. Over time, he noticed that he started to get more...attached to the light sides and to Thomas. He felt his happiest when he was around them, to the point that they even started showing up in his dreams. At first he was alarmed but he carried on, pushing these suddenly less-than-platonic feelings down for the time being.

  
It worked for a while, up until the light sides made an announcement. He remembered it like it was yesterday. All day they had been nervous and whenever one of the others asked about it, they'd deny it. That, of course, wasn't something that easily slipped by Deceit. However, he kept quiet, not wanting to push or pry unless it started to become detrimental.

  
Finally, that night after dinner, Roman said that he had an important announcement to make and that it would be better if Thomas were there to hear it as well. So he and the other dark sides had ended up in Thomas's living room, the host just as confused as they were. It was then that their reason for being nervous was made known. The light sides were together in a polyamorous relationship and they felt that it was time to stop hiding.

  
Although the announcement was definitely a surprise, they were met with acceptance, both from Thomas and from the dark sides. Though if Deceit were to be truthful now, he would say that he was just the slightest bit disappointed.

* * *

  
Deceit shivered as he curled up under the blankets littered across his bed. He felt another coughing fit coming on, the surge of pain a tell-tale sign. Grabbing some tissues from his bed-side table, he held them up just as the coughing started. He grimaced as he felt the blood easily soak through the tissues. Once it subsided, he crumbled the tissues up and threw them away, not caring to look at the painful reminders of what he couldn't have.

  
Tiredly, he began to think of Thomas. Even if he couldn't be with the light sides, he had held out hope that despite the unlikeliness, he could maybe one day find happiness with their host. He began hanging out with Thomas more frequently, watching as he partook in things like horror games despite being terrified. Things were going good and even though his feelings for the light sides didn't dissipate, his feelings for Thomas grew more and more.

  
However, someone started to catch Thomas's eye, no matter how much he tried to deny it. As disappointed as Deceit was, he knew that it was for the best. After all, Thomas had a life outside of his own mind to live. What struck him as odd though was that he just couldn't figure out who it was that Thomas was interested in.

  
Then came the day that it all crashed down around Deceit. By pure accident, it had come out that Thomas was dating someone alright. With no way to deny the truth that he had just uttered, especially not with Deceit sitting right in the living room with him and the others, Thomas confessed that he had started dating the light sides. The other dark sides were confused and looked towards Deceit for confirmation. After, albeit reluctantly, confirming what Thomas said as the truth, the other dark sides were still just as confused but shrugged it off by the end of the night.

  
" _Hey, you're the host. As long as you're happy and being treated right, then good for you_." One of the other dark sides had finally said, a sentiment that was echoed by the rest of them; a bittersweet sentiment in Deceit's case.

* * *

  
That all led back to Deceit's current predicament. _Hanahaki_ : a disease where the victim coughs up flower petals due to one-sided love; the thing he was stuck with. When he had looked it up, Deceit was honestly surprised that it even had a name or a cure. The cure wasn't pleasant whatsoever; surgical removal of the vines at the cost of the romantic feelings that caused it in the first place.

  
Then he found it what would happen if left untreated: _death_. The thought made his stomach drop and left him confused. He had no idea if sides could even die and personally, he wasn't looking forward to being the first one to find out. His only other option was to tell them and hope beyond hope that his feelings would be returned.

  
"Yeah, I'm so screwed..."

* * *

  
Virgil was starting to get extremely worried, not really paying attention to the fact that it was starting to affect Thomas in the outside world. The last time he had seen Deceit was right after lunch that afternoon when he heard the other side coughing badly. He had gone near Deceit when he noticed that the snake-like side looked sickly pale. When Deceit looked at him, Virgil saw fear in his eyes and the emo quickly told him to stay there and that he'd go get Logan. However, when he came back, Deceit was nowhere to be seen.

  
"Virgil? What's going on?" Thomas's voice rang out.

  
Virgil looked up from his spot on the stairs. Thomas was kneeling before him, a concerned look meeting his own. "Deceit," he managed to get out. "Something's wrong with him."

  
"What?" Roman asked, having followed Thomas into the Mind Palace. "What's wrong with him?"

  
" _I don't know_!" Virgil shouted, gripping at his own hair in frustration. "I just know something's _wrong_!" The next thing Virgil knew, Patton was untangling his fingers from his scalp and Logan was directing both himself and Thomas to take deep breaths.

  
Finally, once both side and host were calm enough, Logan spoke. "Virgil came to get me earlier. He said that Deceit looked rather ill. When we went to check on him, he was gone."

  
This set off a wave of uneasiness through the rest of them. Normally, if one of the sides was sick, then everyone else would know about it, even if it was just as a warning of " _hey, I'm sick so you probably shouldn't touch me_ ". "...You don't suppose it's something serious, do you Logan?" Patton asked.

  
"I...honestly can't answer that at the moment. I would need to see him and run some tests to determine what illness he could have," Logan replied.

  
"Whatever it is that ails our slithery... _friend_ , he shouldn't have to face it alone," Roman said, a determined tone to his voice. Still, that moment of hesitation didn't pass by unnoticed.

* * *

  
Things were going great for the five of them. Each one was happy to love and be loved in return. After some time though, they began to notice a change. It was subtle at first; feeling like something was off here and there. Then it began to get more noticeable and they sat down to talk about what was going on.

  
They had all noticed that this feeling seemed to center around a certain serpentine side. When Deceit was around them, it felt like everything was normal; in some cases, even better than before. But when he was gone? That feeling came creeping back, stronger and stronger each time, until they finally couldn't brush off the truth any longer - they had fallen for the snake-like side.

  
Their problem was approaching him about it. Roman's ideas always evolved into grand gestures that could overwhelm anyone that wasn't him. Patton wanted to come out and say it; an idea Logan agreed with, albeit in a much-less hyperactive way than anything the moral trait planned. Virgil was too worried about the what-ifs of the situation; what if he rejected them? What if this made things between them and him awkward to the point that it couldn't be fixed? As for Thomas - he decided that if they couldn't agree on anything then he'd take matters into his own hands and just casually bring the topic up while hanging out, no pressure, no (so he hoped) awkwardness.

* * *

  
Now though, all that was put aside as they had a sick side to check on. As they made their way down the hall to Deceit's door, Thomas knocked on it. To their alarm, they received a pained groan in response. Upon finding the door was locked, Roman was ready to break it down before Virgil and Logan held him back.

  
"He keeps a spare key under the small snake-print rug," Virgil grunted. "Don't tell him I told you that though."

  
Once they were in the room, Patton switched on the lights. A loud hiss came from the bed in response and a lumped in the middle of it moved slightly. "Dee? Kiddo? Are you alright?" Patton asked, walking over to the bed. A muffled groan was his only response.

  
Carefully moved the blankets way, he was surprised to be met with little resistance. What they saw left them in shock. Dee was curled up, blood staining the corners of his mouth. Before him were blood-stained flower petals.

  
" _Deceit?!_ " Virgil yelled in a panic, rushing over to the bed. Thomas, Roman, and Logan quickly followed and Deceit let out another hiss at suddenly being surrounded. Maneuvering around the others, Logan carefully picked up one of the petals by its stem, examining it carefully.

  
A frown crossed his face as he looked at the color of the petal he was holding and then looked at the rest of the petals. It clicked in his head, having read about something similar to this once or twice on the internet. " _Hanahaki_ ," he said.

  
" _What?!_ What's that?!" Virgil frantically asked. Next to him, Patton looked a bit pale from the sight of the blood.

  
"It's a disease in which the sufferer of unrequited love coughs up flower petals. The color of the petals represents the loved one in question," Logan stated, trying to keep his own concern to a minimum for the sake of the others. "If it's not treated or if the love remains unrequited..."

  
"What...what happens?" Thomas asked, rubbing Deceit's back gently. However, they were startled by yet another painful coughing fit. Quickly, Roman conjured up a towel and held it up to Deceit's mouth, allowing it to soak up the blood.

  
Instead of answering, Logan did one of the most surprising things he could have. Once Deceit was done coughing, he wiped the blood away from the snake-like side's mouth and kissed him. Pulling away after a few moments, he gripped Deceit's shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. "Listen to me Deceit. _I_ love you. _We_ love you."

  
Deceit stared at him in shock, partly from the kiss and partly from the fact that he couldn't detect a lie. In his confusion, he managed to get out one word. " _What?_ "

  
Logan stepped back from the bed a bit and the next thing Deceit knew, Roman had taken his place. "Specs is correct, my dear serpent. We love you and we should have told you far sooner than this. Suffering is not something we wanted you to go through at all."

  
Another kiss and soon enough, Patton was speaking to him, albeit it muffled due to the moral side having buried his head in Deceit's shoulder while hugging him. Deceit carefully hugged him back, unsure but willingly to believe that this was real. He then realized that what Patton was saying were apologies for not saying anything before. Quietly reassuring him that Patton had nothing to apologize for, the moral side pulled back from the hug, a tearful smile on his face followed by a kiss of his own.

  
Just as soon as Patton had let go of him, Virgil was clinging to him. "You idiot snake! You stupid idiot!" Virgil yelled without venom in his voice, only worried relief. Deceit tried to apologize to Virgil but the emo side shook his head. "No! Just...just don't worry me like that again," Virgil muttered. Kissing him quickly, Virgil ducked his head and backed off, trying to hide the blush creeping across his face.

  
Finally, Thomas approached him and Deceit tensed a bit. His host sat before him, a look of pure relief on his face. "Hey, you're starting to look better already," Thomas said a bit playfully, pointing at the human half of the side. "You're not looking as pale."

  
"Thomas, I..." Deceit trailed off, unsure of of what to say to the human before.

  
" _Don't_ ," Thomas said, holding his hands up quickly. "Don't apologize. Just...like Virgil said - don't worry me like that again. Okay?" To Deceit's surprise, Thomas held his arms out for a hug, one which Deceit quickly gave. Vaguely, he felt the persistent pain in his chest start to disappear. He still physically felt like hell but it was a much-welcomed improvement. As for emotionally? As he received a kiss from his beloved host, he couldn't be happier.


End file.
